Something to consider - religion vs Christianity

[Wayne Smith]

I have long defined 'religion' as man's hopeless and helpless attempt to reach God.

Christianity is God reaching down to Man, God came to earth for our salvation.

All to many Christians turn Christianity into religion.


I also realized many years ago while meditating on God's infinity - that if God is truly infinite - then everything I know and think about God is one small part of the infinite God. If your part is different than mine we are neither one of us wrong, we are both inadequate.

As long as we stay within God's righteousness, that boundary between what is God and what is not God - we are not wrong. As soon as we cross that boundary we are.

[1hole]

I have long defined 'religion' as man's hopeless and helpless attempt to reach God.

Christianity is God reaching down to Man, God came to earth for our salvation.

All to many Christians turn Christianity into religion.

Excellent condensation.

As long as we stay within God's righteousness, that boundary between what is God and what is not God - we are not wrong. As soon as we cross that boundary we are.

Amen.

God's rules of life are the best guide to a truly happy life I know of. Most lost people think Christianity is defined by a list of "don'ts" and say, in effect, they don't want to live so constrained. BUT, when I ask them which of God's rules deprive them of a happy life they never have a clear answer. I take that as proof they KNOW God's rules are best but they don't want to give up their pet sins. Sad.

[Wayne Smith]

Chuckle - NONE of us want to give up our favorite sins. That's why we have the instruction to "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure". Will I or nil I God does the work, my fear and trembling is the degree to which I cooperate with Him or resist Him.

[exile]

Excellent post. I will just add my own thoughts. Religion is a bunch of rules, whereas Christianity, when properly understood, is a relationship with Christ.

exile

[dtknowles]

That is the difference between Religion and Theology. Religion is mostly about rules but Theology is about understanding God.

God is not just infinite, God is everything. There is nothing that was not created by God, nothing that is not part of God.

Tim

[Wayne Smith]

Worship God, not His creation. Yes, He created all things, but stands outside of His creation as well. We can grieve God by our attitudes and behavior.

[1hole]

Excellent post. I will just add my own thoughts. Religion is a bunch of rules, whereas Christianity, when properly understood, is a relationship with Christ.
exile

Good point.

Seems lost people equate being good with being godly so some do strive to be good ... and hope that, if there is a God, he will weigh them out and find out how wonderfully worthy they are. But, in doing that, they put their "works" cart before the "power" horse and that leads to pride and inflated egos. And it's not Godly.

To do good, the power of God flows from the inside out, it is NOT driven from the outside in. At a gut level, spiritual Christians recognise that but the lost live in a totally different world. They simply can't grasp that kind of truth so they focus on works of the flesh.

[Wayne Smith]

But Biblically works are useless in God's eyes. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" - none of my works come even close to that standard. In Jeremiah my righteousness - my righteous acts - are called a 'dirty rag' - literally a used mensural rag - the last use of a rag in that society before it was burned. That's my good stuff! I am hopelessly lost in sin in a world lost in sin. Jesus Christ is my only hope.

[1hole]

Wayne, that puts the spiritual value of human feeble efforts of "righteousness" in stark perspective, doesn't it.

[.429&H110]

There is a problem with the word religion. When I write Basketball is a religion, I am correct. When I write Christianity is a religion I am mistaken. Four times the Bible uses the word:
Acts 26:5 "of our religion I lived"
(Paul was once Jewish)
Colossians 2:18 "worship of angels"
(don't worship angels)
James 1:26 "this man's religion is vain"
(useless)
goes on to say
James 1:27 "Pure religion is this"
The Greek word is THRESKEIA
(three-ski-ya):
-worship as expressed in ritual acts-
like Basketball; any hero worship there?
Sport rituals? Sunday Night Football?
and as the Temple and Greeks worshiped.
Jesus taught:
Luke 8:21 "My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it".
His Family.
Relationship.
Careful, that's heresy, elsewhere.

[Wayne Smith]

Wayne, that puts the spiritual value of human feeble efforts of "righteousness" in stark perspective, doesn't it.

It certainly does. Beyond that, our cultural value, especially for men, is 'to do'. When two men meet for the first time, what is the second or third question asked? What do you do? We define ourselves by our careers or jobs - what I do is all to often who I am.

What is God's name? - in the Old Testament it is "I am that I am". His name is the verb 'to be' not 'to do'. I firmly believe that His interest is "Who am I becoming?", not "What have I done?"

[dverna]

I try to keep things simple. My goal is to grow closer to God, and to do that I must strive every day to be more like Christ. I can never be perfect, but I must try to do better.

I try not to dwell too much on my sins of the past....those are forgiven anyway. It is the sins of the now and the future that I can address. God will forgive those too...but He expects me to work to be better.

[Chemoman]

their are ministers today who are starting to see the difference between religion and the real thing. they are turning to the real thing.